


Darcy's Bargain

by sleeperswake



Series: Forever and A Day [4]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Ice Skating, New York, Pictures, Rockefeller center, Santa Clause, Snow, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 02:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeperswake/pseuds/sleeperswake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Darcy takes Loki to take a picture with Santa Claus and other fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Darcy's Bargain

“Time to pay up, Loki!” Darcy chirped, wrapping a wool scarf around her neck. It was a chilly day in New York with a few flurries sprinkling the air. Loki grumbled something incomprehensible as he fashioned himself a winter outfit to blend in with the crowd.

 

“If my observations are correct, only children do this.”

 

“Families do too. And when I was in college my friends and I went to the mall and sat on Santa’s lap,” Darcy said matter-of-factly, grabbing her keys so they could exit her apartment.

 

After much prodding, Darcy finally agreed to visit Asgard with him but if and only if he would take a picture with Santa Clause with her. He knew who the man was—he shed his once preferred ignorance of Midgard years ago, but he didn’t see the point in taking a picture with a person pretending to be Santa. However, he didn’t see the point in many of Darcy’s escapades and he eventually learned to “roll with the punches,” as the Midgardian phrase put it.

 

Santa Clause would be making his appearance in Rockefeller Center, meaning they had to take the subway. Neither of them minded, though. Despite Darcy’s New Mexico roots, she actually enjoyed the cold and she absorbed herself into the holiday spirit. They went Christmas shopping the week before for her family and Marcus and he was reduced to being a pack mule. There were a lot of perks when your best friend has godly strength, and she took every advantage of it with a sly grin.

 

The building where Santa was located was right across from the Rockefeller tree, and they arrived with ten minutes to spare. Taking his hand, Darcy tugged him along to get a better look.

 

“It’s even taller than last year,” she remarked, pulling out her phone to snap a picture for her father.

 

Loki nodded, peering down towards the ice skaters that moved in a perpetual circle with some venturing to the middle. Children (and some adults to his amusement) fell numerous times, and he chuckled.

 

“Hey, you failed miserably your first time,” Darcy chastised, putting her phone away and propped up her arms to lean against the railing.

 

“And I haven’t tried since then,” Loki said, turning away to observe the rush of the street.

 

An idea struck Darcy, her smile turning from innocent to devilish but the clock was ticking, and Santa was coming. Afterwards, she decided, taking Loki’s arm to jaywalk to the other side.

 

Xxx

 

“Oh my…We have two very large children!” The fake-Santa chortled, with his synthetic white beard bobbing up in down with laughter. A bead of sweat dropped from his temple—while the Santa suit may have been fit for sleigh riding, it didn’t work with the toasty hotel.

 

A sheepish smile elicited from Darcy. “If we’re too heavy, we’ll just stand.”

 

“Oh no no no,” Santa boomed, patting his lap. “Each of you have to tell me what you want for Christmas first.”

 

“No,” Loki said sharply, his arms crossed while Darcy was already leaning over to whisper into Santa’s ear, looking like a gleeful child. ‘Santa’ stole a glance at Loki, followed by another from Darcy and they laughed conspiringly. She popped off his lap, and motioned for Loki to come over, but Loki stood obstinately, his arms still crossed.

 

“Aw, come on Loki. Don’t be a Scrooge,” Darcy said, the reference flying over his head, but the implications were enough.

 

A couple of kids were looking impatient and started yelling for them to hurry up.

 

“This,” he said, motioning to Santa. “Is not what we agreed on.”

 

Darcy pouted, followed with a frown from Santa. “But you need to do this before we take any pictures.”

 

“No,” Loki said, and Darcy rolled her eyes.

 

“Santa, a little help here?” She asked with an exasperated arm flail.

 

“Well…” Santa began, standing up from his festive chair. “I think your friend is on the naughty list. He wouldn’t be able to get a present anyway,” he said, chuckling. Loki gave a satisfied smirk to Darcy.

 

“I would expect the God of Mischief to be naughty,” Darcy muttered under her breath so that only Loki could hear, and she took him by the scarf to drag him to Santa’s side.

 

“Smile, at least?” Darcy begged.

 

The cameraman looked at the two of them and asked if they were ready. Darcy nodded and motioned for Loki to look at the camera, and he gave a tight-lipped smile.

 

“Merry Christmas!” Darcy called to Santa as she waved goodbye with the picture. The Santa gave a little wave as a small child was placed upon him and Loki walked out the door without looking back.

 

Xxx

 

“Well, at least it looks like you’re smiling,” Darcy remarked, holding the picture up and looking at it through the plastic bag as snowflakes fell on it.

 

Loki made some noncommittal noise as they weaved their way through Rockefeller Center. Jazz music could be faintly heard in the background, and Darcy and Loki knew it was from the local café by the skating rink. Darcy deposited the picture carefully into her purse and she wrapped her arm through Loki’s.

 

“Can we make one more stop before we go home?” Darcy asked, looking up at him as the snow hit her glasses and melted. He nodded, and he silently noted that Darcy referred to her apartment as their home.

 

He found himself at the skating rink and he froze in his tracks as Darcy reached for her purse.

 

“Darcy…” He warned carefully, and she pouted playfully.

 

“Give it another chance!” She said, already reaching for tickets and skates. His mind raced at the thought of humiliation, but he supposed nothing could be worse than taking a picture with Santa.

 

“Fine,” he grumbled, swiping the skates from the counter and sulked off to an empty bench to put them on.

 

Xxx

 

“Loki, just take my hand!” Darcy said, laughing as she twirled around him. He clung on to the wall of the rink, knuckles white, and his knees wobbled slightly. He bit down on his tongue—he couldn’t understand why this infuriating sport was so difficult; he could kill, he could do magic, but why couldn’t he skate?!

 

He pretended to ignore her as he inched his way around the rink, eventually making it to Prometheus, the golden fountain.

 

Loki looked to his counterpart and inwardly sighed. If only Prometheus could show him the knowledge of how to skate, he thought shrewdly as he continued to inch away.

 

Darcy overlapped him, so she was back at his side, extending a hand.

 

“I promise I won’t let you fall,” she reassured. If Loki thought it wasn’t unsightly to snort, he would do so at this moment.

 

“I’m sure my weight would overtake you,” he said, but Darcy shrugged as she forcefully took his hand in hers. Neither of them wore gloves; he didn’t need it and she didn’t care much for them. Although Loki was a Frost Giant, his hand felt warm against her chilled palms.

 

“Move your feet like you’re a penguin,” she instructed, and Loki threw her an exasperated look. “Well, not as fidgety, but like this,” she said as she demonstrated the motion.

 

Loki let himself off the wall, and he sucked in a breath. Worst comes to worst, he could always make himself temporarily float, if for at least a few seconds, but he found that he wasn’t falling at all.

 

He was gliding.

 

“There you go!” Darcy shouted, picking up their speed, causing him to stumble, but he held her hand firmly.

 

“Ow, easy there, Loki,” she whined with humor, a smile plastered on her face.

 

They did a few more laps around the rink, and he grew more and more confident with each. Darcy decided it was finally time to let go, so she gently released their grip and let Loki glide by himself for a few seconds.

 

“Now move your feet!”

 

He followed the same motion and he began to skate himself, albeit, slowly. A smile broke through, and he looked around to tell Darcy, but he couldn’t find her. Fear struck him for a moment, but that was quickly shattered as a snowball hit him in the side.

 

It didn’t feel like much, but it startled him enough to make him lean too far to one side. Darcy was giggling as she formed another snowball by fiercely braking against the ice so that it made indents.

 

“Two can play at that,” he said, forming a snowball out of thin air and launching it at her face. It hit her with pinpoint accuracy, causing her to fall on her butt. She roared with laughter as regained her footing, and threw her own, but it missed him by a long shot and hit one of the tourists.

 

“Hey, you can’t do that to the ice!” An attendant shouted, making his way towards him. Darcy’s eyes widened and she skated to Loki’s side in an instant.

 

“Loki, how fast do you think you can skate?” She asked, taking his hand again.

 

“Fast enough,” he replied in a rush, as they made their way to the exit before security could catch them.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t take this too seriously; I’ve wanted to write this ever since the thought struck me when writing Forever and A Day.
> 
> I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!


End file.
